FRIDAY
July 24 , 2015 • $1.00
GET FIT
DAILY CHRONICLE Local gym to host fitness fundraiser to benefit St. Jude’s / B1
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86 67 Complete forecast on page A8
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SERVING DEKALB COUNTY SINCE 1879
Event caters to seniors
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Child care subsidies drying up Changes to state’s assistance program create woes for local parents, providers By RHONDA GILLESPIE rgillespie@shawmedia.com
Photos by Danielle Guerra – dguerra@shawmedia.com
State Rep. Bob Pritchard, R-Hinckley, talks with some of the seniors attending the 2015 Senior Citizens’ Health Fair, which he hosted Thursday with state Sen. Dave Syverson and the Family Service Agency at DeKalb High School.
Fair showcases services, highlights budget fallout By RHONDA GILLESPIE rgillespie@shawmedia.com DeKALB – Scores of seniors perused tables at the senior fair hosted Thursday by local legislators and the Family Service Agency. The annual event, held at DeKalb High School, featured vendors representing services and products related to the elderly. Seniors were offered several health screenings, including blood pressure and hearing, for free. The event drew people such as 78-year-old Margo Hazlewood and her 77-year-old husband, Don, who is diabetic. They were looking for a foot doctor for Don and were pleased to find a podiatrist. Roger Eberly, 78, stopped at the Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs table and leafed through a booklet of information that was laid out. The retired Illinois National Guardsman said he was at the fair learning about elderly care and services in case he needs any of it in the future. He said he’s fine now, but he wants to be prepared and armed with information “just in case.” “When you reach a certain age, you want to check on this and check on that,” he said. State Rep. Bob Pritchard, R-Hinckley, said he started the event when he was a freshman representative – more than a decade ago. The 70-year-old legislator said the county has a “plethora” of services but often people don’t know about them. He feels the fair is an efficient way of informing constituents. “They may not need [a service] to-
DeKALB – When Maria Lombardo learned this month about changes to the state’s Child Care Assistance Program, she was scared she would lose her assistance. Her case recently came up for renewal and she was faced with possibly having to pull her 6-, 4- and 2-year-old out of day care. As of July 1, fewer low-income families could qualify for aid from the state subsidy program to help pay child care expenses. Lombardo, a 29-yearold single mother and parttime college student – who also works in the child care field, was relieved to find out she may still qualify. Barely. “I just went into a panic, not knowing what I was going to do,” Lombardo, of Sycamore, said. “I’d have to move in with my parents, who live an hour away.” With Illinois beginning a new fiscal year without a budget, Gov. Bruce Rauner’s
administration made changes to CCAP, reducing the qualifying income levels for new applicants to the program and increasing co-pays for those already receiving assistance. The move, designed to help reduce state spending, has some advocates, providers and parents on edge. The Illinois Department of Human Services, which runs the program, implemented the changes – putting, in effect, what it calls a freeze on new recipients. Veronica Vera, a DHS spokeswoman, said she couldn’t comment on whether the CCAP changes are permanent or temporary. She said they are in place for now, until a budget is approved. Lombardo may still get assistance because she already had an active case as of July 1. But she will have a higher co-payment. She said that had she been a new applicant, faced with the new $1,011 monthly income limit – $12,132 annually for a family of four – she would
See CHILD CARE, page A5
Child Care Assistance Program income guidelines BEFORE JULY 1 Joyce Williams, 69, of Belvidere receives a chair massage Thursday from massage therapist Fara Maniaci of Northern Rehab Physical Therapy in Genoa at the Senior Citizens’ Health Fair at DeKalb High School. grams benefiting the elderly and people with disabilities. “It looks like they’re cutting back on a whole bunch of stuff,” Margo Hazlewood said. “Some people need [assistance] more than I do right now. … Taking that away from them must be Roger Eberly hard.” Retired Illinois National Guardsman Eberly said he’s “hoping for the best” with the gridlock in Springfield. He knows people who have lost their day, but when they do, they will know jobs and been “hurt” because of the where there is assistance,” Pritchard budget issues. He’s sympathetic to them but also feels that if the state consaid. Some of the seniors at the event tinues its current spending habits “it’s were concerned about the state’s budget stalemate and proposed cuts to proSee SENIORS, page A5
“When you reach a certain age, you want to check on this and check on that.”
Family size 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Eligible monthly gross income (maximum) $2,426 $3,051 $3,677 $4,303 $4,929 $5,555 $6,181
AFTER JULY 1 Family size 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Eligible monthly gross income (maximum) NEW applicants RETURNING applicants $664 $2,456 $838 $3,098 $1,011 $3,739 $1,184 $4,380 $1,358 $5,022 $1,531 $5,663 $1,704 $6,304
Protesters, supporters greet Trump on Mexican border visit By JILL COLVIN and SETH ROBBINS The Associated Press LAREDO, Texas – Ever sure of himself, Donald Trump paid a whirlwind visit to the Mexico border Thursday and predicted Hispanics would love him – “they already do” – because as president he’d grab jobs back from overseas and give more opportunity to those who live in the U.S. legally. “There’s great danger with the illegals,” the Republican presidential contender told reporters. But he claimed a “great relationship” with Hispanics, even as Latino leaders
have come at him with blistering criticism for his painting Mexican immigrants as criminals. “I’ll take jobs back from China, I’ll take jobs back from Japan,” Trump said. “The Hispanics are going to get those jobs, and they’re going to love Trump.” The in-and-out border visit came as Trump continued to dominate attention in the GOP presidential race, to the growing exasperation of his rivals. Campaigning in Gorham, New Hampshire, Jeb Bush offered a distinctly different message in the immigration debate – and spoke partly in Spanish.
“A Republican will never be elected president of the United States again unless we campaign like this,” Bush said, gesturing with open arms. “Unless we campaign openly – where we campaign in every nook and cranny of this country, where we go campaign in the Latino communities, fast-growing communities all across this country that will make a difference in who the next president is going to be.” Trump, a businessman and reality TV host, set up a dramatic scene in advance of his own campaign trip, telling the mob of reporters who greeted
him at the airport that he was putting himself in “great danger” by coming to the border area across from the volatile Mexican city of Nuevo Laredo. But, he said, “I have to do it. I have to do it.” Trump, who arrived wearing a “Make America Great Again” baseball cap, spent nearly an hour touring the World Trade Bridge with the city’s mayor and manager, according to his campaign, before holding a news conference at the border crossing. AP photo As he spoke to reporters with his back to the Rio Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump waves from his vehicle
See TRUMP, page A2
Thursday during a tour of the World Trade International Bridge at the U.S.-Mexico border in Laredo, Texas.
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WHERE IT’S AT
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Permits in works for Fairdale residents to rebuild homes / A4
DeKalb County jobless rate reaches 5 percent in June, down from 2014 / A3
NIU Huskies meet for media day focused on fresh season / B1
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